Sunday, May 27, 2012

Hooded Oriole in Cancun Mexico

This was one bird I had a tricky time identifying. At first I thought it as an Altamira Oriole because it seemed to match the pictures, but then the closer I looked at the I looked at the ID notes provided on All About Birds, and the concentration of these two species in the part of Mexico I was in on ebird range map, the more confident I felt that it was a Hooded Oriole.

As you can see in these pictures, the Coconut Palm is a favorite tree for these birds- they like to forage on the clusters of green flowers and generally just sit here as a good lookout spot. I saw these orioles from time to time around the resort grounds, and also heard them. Their call is very similar to our Baltimore Oriole and sure enough, every time I heard it and looked up sure enough there was the Hooded Oriole.